As many of you may already know, our next Kickstarter is coming this winter. For those who don't, it is a bestiary for both the Fate of the Norns system as well as Dungeons and Dragons 5e. My initial thinking is that this will be a series of 3 books (all released at the same time), because smaller books are easier to bring to a game session than a crazy sized book where most of the content may not be relevant for that night. The 3 Bestiary books will also mirror content found in the Core Rulebook, Denizens of the North and Lords of the Ash. This way you buy the monster books that mirror the lore books in your collection.

Both system books will contain the same monsters, but the mission statements for the stat block pages will be different.

Format 1The bestiary for the Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok system will be to:

- Zero prep time, all stat blocks are ready for action and organized in a super optimal way (tested with dozens of norns)- Special battlefield environments that may have their own initiative tile- Expanded lore that builds on what's already in the lore books- Social "combat" options and rewards (alternative to violent confrontation)

Format 2The bestiary for the DnD 5e system will be to:

- Design monsters that have interesting conditions for defeat, so battles are more like sagas and fairy tales, rather than a slog to reduce HP to 0.- Design monsters that offer GM interesting ability/power choices rather than boring repetitive roll to-hit and then roll for damage.- A "DnD 5.5" approach to the rules (something that eliminates the need for pencils and paper to manage HP and conditions), something super interesting that I've have been testing. Yesterday it all fell into place as I had an epiphany (biggest since 2004's RGS system) on its execution. Dice will be able to operate in many ways what I achieved with runes back in 2006.- Social "combat" options and rewards (alternative to violent confrontation)

Format 3There actually will be a 3rd format which is not a game book, but rather a story/info book for non-gamers. It will contain the same lore and imagery, but none of the game related stat pages. There are many fans who buy our books who are non-gamers, but enjoy the research we've put into the history and mythology. We will probably merge all 3 books into 1 for this format.

I'm attaching 2 of the 3 covers with some placeholder titles to give you an idea of how much space we have for them (these are quick graphics mockups).

So this brings me to the title(s), and we need to come up with 3 (one for each book). Someone had suggested a triad involving the "boss" monsters from each book. We also had some alternate ones. "When the Kraken Stirs" references the Kraken "Why the Land Awakens" references the Borghild"Where the Children of Giants Roam" references the Jarnvid Wolves and EttinsThe second idea from in house was basing the books on the various ages of Ragnarok (Axe Age, Sword Age, Wind Age)

We'd love more ideas from you guys! Please post them below.

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I would be interested in hearing your approach to the 5e monsters actually. Translation into the d20 space really opens up a lot of portability.

I am laying out the digital PDF files in between dealing with Vanagard shipping logistics. I plan to do a short youtube video as well explaining the 5e "enhancements". I've run them past a few D&D groups already and the feedback as been super positive, and I plan on really opening it up as soon as I have the docs and video ready. Your feedback in always welcome and appreciated.

The 3 Bestiary books will also mirror content found in the Core Rulebook, Denizens of the North and Lords of the Ash. This way you buy the monster books that mirror the lore books in your collection

I'm assuming this means that each Bestiary will have Denizen stats/lore/info/etc. pertaining to Denizens from each of the 3 books? How will updated rules and mechanics from more recently published books that would apply to Denizens from older books be handled? (Examples: Updates to Knockback, Swarm Rules, Base Powers, New Metas, etc.)

Are you married to this format? I only ask because a tighter 'theme' of monster groupings would lend to an easier titling. I know when I'm browsing RPG supplements (IRL or online) I like to get a decent idea of their content by skimming the title and subtitle; if they pull me in, I think look at the TOC. Assuming I came across these books with the three boss-monster titles and had never seen this thread, I would assume the bestiaries contained information on aquatic denizens, giant-kin, and spirits. Going by the Ages of Ragnarok titles, I'd assume they were about Denizens pertinent to the given Age in question.

There might be an opportunity here to do some rehashing of Denizen Power Boards to incorporate things like Base Powers and potentially updated or optional Boards. If you went the route of mixing all of the Denizens from the 3 main books together, you could reprint the updated Power Boards and have references in the back indicating where non-Core Powers are published.

Aside:I would totally buy a compilation of all the Powers. lol.

Maybe naming the three books based on Denizen types (Spirits of Nature, Spirits of Oblivion, Spirits of Genesis) or based on groupings of where they're located on the Tree.

That being said, that was quite a tangent!

If you decide on sticking with your existing format (not that I think your crew would change it all based on one silly poster!) some suggestions from me:

Core - "The Doomed," "The Fated" (referring to Fate of the Norns and -rokkr = "fate/doom")

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